Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

with proud joy that at last I would be able to redeem myself from this paralyzing feeling. I
had so often sung 'Deutschland uber Aloes' and shouted Neil ' at the top of my lungs, that it
seemed to me almost a belated act of grace to be allowed to stand as a witness in the divine
court of the eternal judge and proclaim the sincerity of this conviction. For from the first
hour r was convinced that in case of a war- which seemed to me inevitable-in one way or
another I would at once leave my books. Likewise I knew that my place would then be where
my inner voice directed me.
I had left Austria primarily for political reasons; what was more natural than that, now the
struggle had begun, I should really begin to take account of this conviction. I did not want to
fight for the Habsburg state, but was ready at any time to die for my people and for the Reich
which embodied it
On the third of August, I submitted a personal petition to His Majesty, lying Ludwig III, with
a request for permission to enter a Bavarian regiment. The cabinet office certainly had plenty
to do in those days; so much the greater was my joy to receive an answer to my request the
very next day. With trembling hands I opened the document; my request had been approved
and I was summoned to report to a Bavarian regiment. My joy and gratitude knew no
bounds. A few days later I was wearing the tunic which I was not to doff until nearly six years
later.
For me, as for every German, there now began the greatest and most unforgettable time of
my earthly existence. Compared to the events of this gigantic struggle, everything past
receded to shallow nothingness. Precisely in these days, with the tenth anniversary of the
mighty event approaching, I think back with proud sadness on those first weeks of our
people's heroic struggle, in which Fate graciously allowed me to take part.
As though it were yesterday, image after image passes before my eyes. I see myself donning
the uniform in the circle of my dear comrades, turning out for the first time, drilling, etc.,
until the day came for us to march off.
A single worry tormented me at that time, me, as so many others: would we not reach the
front too late? Time and time again this alone banished all my calm. Thus, in every cause for
rejoicing at a new, heroic victory, a slight drop of bitterness was hidden, for every new victory
seemed to increase the danger of our coming too late.
At last the day came when we left Munich to begin the fulfillment of our duty. For the first
time I saw the Rhine as we rode westward along its quiet waters to defend it, the German
stream of streams, from the greed of the old enemy. When through the tender veil of the early
morning mist the Niederwald Monument gleamed down upon us in the gentle first rays of the
sun, the old Watch on the Rhine roared out of the endless transport train into the morning
sky, and I felt as though my heart would burst.
And then came a damp, cold night in Flanders, through which we marched in silence, and
when the day began to emerge from the mists, suddenly an iron greeting came whizzing at us
over our heads, and with a sharp report sent the little pellets flying between our ranks,
ripping up the wet ground; but even before the little cloud had passed, from two hundred
throats the first hurrah rose to meet the first messenger of death. Then a crackling and a
roaring, a singing and a howling began, and with feverish eyes each one of us was drawn
forward, faster and faster, until suddenly past turnip fields and hedges the fight began, the
fight of man against man. And from the distance the strains of a song reached our ears,
coming closer and closer, leaping from company to company, and just as Death plunged a
busy hand into our ranks, the song reached us too and we passed it along: 'Deutschland,
Deutschland uber Alles, uber Alles in der Welt!'
Four days later we came back. Even our step had changed. Seventeen-year-old boys now
looked like men.
The volunteers of the List Regiment may not have learned to fight properly, but they knew
how to die like old soldiers
This was the beginning.